Vice President Joe Biden (L) points at Congressman Paul Ryan during their Vice Presidential debate
THE TICKET
On Thursday night, vice president Joe Biden and Congressman Paul Ryan sat at a semi-circular piece of corporate office furniture to debate various aspects of foreign and domestic policy. With moderator Martha Raddatz at the helm, the 90-minute conversation between the two contenders began fairly civilly, and grew increasingly snippy.
Those hoping for a few true wildman outbursts or gaffes from the easily lampooned Biden were disappointed. The vice president, however, grinning hugely, shaking his head and even giggling during some of his opponent's answers, did seem exasperated with the much younger congressman for most of the debate, reports The Ticket.
Answering the moderator's first question, about the recent terrorist attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Biden, a former chairperson of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, promised that the Obama administration would "find and bring justice to the men" responsible for the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and the three other Americans killed during the attack.
Ryan came back with the claim that the president's foreign policy is "making us less safe."
Shortly after, Biden had his first bona fide 'Biden moment': "With all due respect, that's a bunch of malarkey," he said. (Moments later "malarkey" and "malarky" were trending on Twitter.)
As the candidates segued to domestic issues, Biden went after the Romney/Ryan ticket for being on the side of fat cats. "They continue to put the interest of millionaires and billionaires ... ahead of the military and middle class," Biden said.
In response—and attempting to defend Romney's controversial 47 percent remark—Ryan said (to laughter), "I think the vice president knows, sometimes the words don't always come out of your mouth the way you want."
"But I always say what I mean," Biden retorted with a grin.
The vice president did seem to say what he meant for much of the debate, even looking straight at the camera and addressing viewers directly.